Sacred Sites of the United States

White Sands, New Mexico, USA

Based on current archaeological findings it is certain that human beings have been coming to the Western Hemisphere for at least 40,000 years. There were three methods of travel that were used: 1) In small sea-going craft closely skirting both the Pacific and Atlantic coast lines (from Alaska all the way to the far reaches of southern South America, and from northern Europe all the way to Brazil); 2) By land (over the so-called Bering land bridge and through various ice-free corridors on the enormous ice sheet covering what is now Canada); and 3) Presumably by larger ocean-crossing craft from different locations in Asia, Africa and Europe.

Representing an assemblage of different peoples and cultures over more than forty millennia, there would have been a great diversity of shamanic and religious practices wherever people settled. While, generally speaking, it is true that the further back in time we go the less we know about such matters, the following list gives the locations of those places that were considered sacred sites in the region of the United States.

Sacred Sites of the United States

Alaska

Mt. McKinley (Denali)

Mt. St. Elias: Sacred mountain of Yakutat Tlingit Indians

Arizona

Mount Graham: Dzil Nchaa Si, Apache sacred mountain

Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument

I’ito (Montezuma’s Head) & ‘Oks Daha (Old Woman Sitting)

Mt. Humphreys: Doko O Sliid, Navaho sacred mountain of the west

Canyon de Chelly: Navaho sacred site

Mt. Baboquivari: Tohono O’odham sacred mountain

Meteor Crater

Black Mesa

Superstition Mountains

Zuni Lake: Sacred to Zuni, Acoma, Laguna, Hopi and Taos Indians

California

Mt. Shasta

Mt Tamalpais

Mt. Diablo

Mt. San Jacinto: Sacred mountain of Cahuilla Indians

Mt. Lassen

Joshua Tree

Tecate Peak

Soldier mountain: Simolaki mountain, Sacred to Ajumawi Indians

Conception Point: Chumash sacred site

Colorado

Garden of the Gods

Cave of the Winds

Great Sand Dunes

Blanca Peak: Sisnajini, Navajo sacred mountain of the east

Spanish Peaks

Mt. Hesperus: Dibe’ Nitsaa, Navajo sacred mountain of the north

Island Lake

Florida

Crystal River Mounds

Panther Mound

Mount Royal Mounds

Lake Jackson Mounds

Georgia

Stone Mountain

Ocmulgee Park

Etowah Mounds

Hawaii

Mt. Haleakala, Maui

Mauna Kea, Hawaii

Piilanihale Heiau temple, Maui

Moku’ula, Maui

Iao Valley, Maui

Mo’ okini Luakini Heiau, Hawaii

Pu’ uhonua O Honaunau, Hawaii

Mt. Kilauea, Hawaii: Birthplace of Pele, goddess of volcanoes

Kaulu Paoa Heiau, Kauia Island

Idaho

Nez Perce Historical National Park

Illinois

Monks mound

Kincaid mounds

Indiana

Mounds State Park

Angel mounds

Iowa

Effigy mounds

Louisiana

Poverty Point mounds

Tchefuncte mounds

Marksville mounds

Maine

Mt. Katahdin: Sacred mountain of Penobscot Indians

Michigan

Michigan mounds

Sleeping Bear Dunes

Minnesota

Pipestone Quarry: Sacred to the Dakota, Lakota, and other tribes of Native Americans